Cruise Season 2016 Revs into High Gear Later This Week

Cruise season 2016 began May 9th and by the time the last ship casts off its lines on October 28^th, 64 ships will have visited, bringing with them approximately 145,000 passengers and 57,700 crew.  This year, the Port is experiencing a year-over-year 20% increase in cruise passenger traffic.

Cruise ships have been visiting Port Saint John since 1989 and our City has welcomed in excess of 2 million people as guests and crew on more than 1,000 vessels.All the major cruise lines in the world now visit Saint John and we can handle some of the largest cruise ships in the business today. Check out Anthem of the Seas next week and on 3 more occasions in September and October—she’ll be the largest ship to visit here to date.

While the season runs from May through to October, the months of September and October typically see the most traffic (two-thirds of the entire cruise season).

The reason?  Cruise tourism was established here on the attraction of fall foliage and as a result, this is the most established part of the season.With the arrival of Holland America’s Rotterdam later this week (August 26) and Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas next Tuesday (August 30), we are heading into the peak cruise months of September and October.  We thought you’d like to know what to watch for in the harbour over the next 10 weeks.Notables of the 2016 cruise season:

• Seven inaugural calls from ships that have not visited our city before. These include Carnival Cruise Line’s Carnival Sunshine (June 23), Holland America’s Rotterdam (August 26), Royal Caribbean International’s Anthem of the Seas (August 30), Hapag Lloyd’s Europa 2 (September 24), Silversea Cruises’ Silver Explorer (September 28), Azamara Club Cruises’ Azamara Quest (October 1), and Phoenix Reisen’s Amadea (October 22).
• Mid-sized boutique luxury line, Azamara Club Cruises, docking on October 1^st with 700 passengers is a new cruise line for Port Saint John.
• Blount Small Ship Adventures returned this year, staying dockside at Pugsley Slip (foot of Princes Street) for five days in early August.
• Disney Cruise Line returns to the port city with Disney Magic on October 4^th.
• Five double-ship days, four triple-ship days and a quadruple ship day highlight a busy September and October. (See the schedule below).
• The 2 busiest cruise days will be September 28 and October 19 the, when the City will welcome over 12,000 passengers and crew on each day. To put that in perspective on how cruise business has grown in Saint John, 12,000 was approximately the number of cruise guests for the entire year back in 1996, 20 years ago.
• The busiest 3 weeks in cruise begin September 26 and run to October 15, corresponding with peak fall colours. During these 3 weeks almost 40% of the entire season will occur with approximately 56,800 guests and 22,700 crew members during 30 ship visits.
• Ship watchers should keep their eye out for Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Season August 30, September 13, September 29, and October 13. Anthem of the Seas will be the largest cruise ship to visit Saint John yet.

Cruise tourism activity in Saint John represents a $25 million annual boost to New Brunswick’s economy.

---

Taking photos of the ships in Port? Don’t forget to tag us on Twitter and Instagram with the handle @PortSaintJohn & #SaintAwesome

---